Comes Once More The Hideous One

I have a dream that comes to me from time to time. There are, of course, variations and it may be years between one time I have the dream and the next time I have it. There are two other, no three other, recurring dreams that come to mind immediately . One of those I have not had for a very long time although the house which is in the dream and the location of the dream I visit in other dreams and try to remember during those dream if I have seen that house before and wonder why it seems familiar. 

 

The dream I just woke myself up from has been , oh wait, first I want to tell you, the reader, about this cave I have gone to in my dreams on a number of occasions. Not the entire dream as I do not remember it and there is no way to fully describe the significance of a cave and the journey I take to this cave or into it each time. I go there and it is always a place that has been at some point in time condemned and I know this but I also know that far enough down into the cave there is an entrance into a deeper part of the cave and it is there that I always go. Reciting much more of that adventure can become a waking nightmare so I will remove myself from that place and return to the dream that chose tonight to return in a variation but one of "those" dreams nevertheless.

In this dream I am part of a group of people who have been set up to be in an environment where death is the final scene. We are not chosen arbitrarily. If I could define the art form of this dream I would choose to compare it to one of those horror movies that Vincent Price starred in long ago. Void of the complexity of modern day special effects  those movies managed to convey a sense of impending doom . Our imaginations do so much of the work in the older horror movies. As I was dreaming I was vaguely aware that I had been here time after time in other dreams and I wanted to wake up but the dream ensnared me. The difference this time was that I actively tried to find my way out of the situation. Yet, at every attempt I found out the person I thought was going to help was part of the ongoing trap or the path I chose to find my way out simply turned on itself forcing me back into the dream. Ultimately the way out was to wake up. I finally was able to wake up and I did not go back to sleep at all. The familiarity   of the dream coupled with the new behavior of trying to find my way to safety was intense.

I may never dream this dream again or I may dream it in three years or five. I will soon forget it unless I re-read this post. Yet, once the dream begins I will know immediately that I have passed that way before.

I can easily interpret the dream. Clearly understanding the dream has not lessened the impact nor have I managed to escape it.

This dream is a milder version of the cave dream. Kinda a prep school for the cave dream which I hope I never dream again. While little happens in the dream that would make a horror moment, the dream in and of itself illicits horror. When I realize I am once more in the cave dream I am drawn like a moth to the flame.

Enough of dreams. It is, after all, water under the bridge. The deed has been done. The wound has been deep. The healing ongoing. All that remains are these dreams with no end, no beginning, no relevance. They are like abandoned horror houses in an old theme park.